35 Years

"Who goes to prison when the government catches you lying? You. Who goes to prison when you catch the government lying? Nope, still you."

Bradley Chelsea Manning was sentenced today. 35 years.

Not sentenced today: George W. Bush or any of his co-conspirators for war crimes. Not sentenced, Wall Street hucksters for the 2008 economic crisis. Not sentenced, Barack Obama for sending drones to kill innocent civilians including US citizens. Not sentenced, George Zimmerman for racist murder. Not sentenced: Michael Bloomberg or Ray Kelly, for ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of young black and brown people.

Assata Shakur is still free, so hope springs eternal. FREE BRADLEY CHELSEA MANNING!

Strike the Prisons!

"There is a spirit of rebellion in the world, and from Guantanamo to Istanbul to Brazil — people are fighting for their right to live — not as robots, not as slaves, not as chattel. It is not just about the prisoners. The overpopulation of California’s prison system not only exerts a lifelong effect on prisoners, but also tears apart whole communities who bear the burden of mass incarceration.
 
And in fighting for themselves and their families the prisoners are tran- scending the prison. It’s a struggle for democracy in its most basic meaning.
 
We support them. We embrace them. Power to the people."
—Strike The Prisons

This week prisoners up and down the West Coast have set aside political differences, racial divisions, and longstanding beefs to unite for a massive hunger strike and system-wide work stoppage. Working in solidarity with organizers on the inside, revolutionaries and activists on the outside have begun a support campaign for the striking prisoners. Part of this campaign is a broadsheet bulletin entitled "Strike the Prisons," thatis being distributed in Washington State, Oregon and California starting this week. I was honored to be asked to help produce the bulletin, and working with amazing comrades on both coasts, the broadsheet was set to be printed today. Expect a massive news blackout from mainstream media.

The full content of the broadsheet can be read at Kasama, via a downloadable PDF here. Strike the Prisons content will also be up at its own website here shortly, and updates on solidarity work and the unfolding strike can be found at Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity and at the Prisoner Hunger & Work Strike blog.

The conditions for long-term prisoners in California, especially those in various forms of isolation, are worse than those for most zoo animals. In this era of mass incarceration, when prisons are used as a form of social control, these prisoners need our support.

Victory to the prison strikes!

"Shut Up, You Don't Get A Lawyer"

"To those American citizens thinking about helping al-Qaida, please know what will come your way: death, detention, prosecution. If you are thinking about plotting with the enemy inside our country to do the rest of us harm, please understand what is coming your way: the full force of the law. The law I am talking about is the law of armed conflict. You subject yourself to being held as an enemy of the people of the United States, interrogated about what you know and why you did what you did or planned to do, and you subject yourself to imprisonment and death. The reason you subject yourself to that regime is because your decision to turn on the rest of us and help a group of people who would destroy our way of life is not something we idly accept. It is not a common, everyday crime. It is a decision by you to commit an act of aggression against the rest of us....It is not unfair to make an American citizen account for the fact that they decided to help al-Qaida to kill us all and hold them as long as it takes to find intelligence about what may be coming next. And when they say 'I want my lawyer,' you tell them 'Shut up. You don't get a lawyer....You are an enemy combatant, and we are going to talk to you about why you joined al-Qaida.'"
— Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on the floor of Congress, Wed. Nov. 30

"If we can't hold an American citizen who has chosen to be a member of al-Qaida and has participated in a belligerent act against our country to ask them what other attacks they are planning and whom they are working with, how are we going to get information to make sure that--God forbid--we can prevent another 9/11 on our soil, because that is why they want to come to the United States of America. Also, how do we deal with this issue of homegrown radicals?"
— Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte in the same debate

The occasion was a debate over whether to resolve ambiguous language resulting from the heinous post-9/11 emergency laws like the Patriot Act that suggests American citizens or people inside the United States might be subject to the same extra-legal military repression now allowed by these new laws. These new laws mean that thousands of people are held in secret and no-so-secret jails outside the United States indefinitely awaiting "miltary justice," whatever that is. The Republicans want these laws to apply to American citizens as well; some Democrats are mounting not an opposition to these repressive laws but only to the notion that they should apply to U.S. citizens. According to the NY Times, the vote after this horrifying discussion was inconclusive, and the legal ambiguity stays for now, perhaps subject to future high-court resolution.

But ponder what this means. For all these politicians' talk about people choosing to join Al Qaeda and thus declaring war against the U.S. and therefore being considered combatants awaiting the end of a conflict, what they are now making perfectly clear is that they want the right to accuse anyone they want of high crimes — including American citizens — and not have to prove a thing. That means if Lindsey Graham says you or I is a terrorist, we go to jail. For as long as he wants. And you and I do not have a single solitary right to protest or defend ourselves. No evidence necessary. No right of appeal. No nothing. No rights at all. And these Senators are literally and clearly advocating that.

There is a name for the kind of society that acts like that. This is not about preventing another 911, this is about repression and stifling political dissent. A friend of mine on Facebook posted a song about the Mothers of the "Disappeared" in Argentina's dirty war of right-wing repression and asks, now, of the U.S.: "How long until our friends and neighbors begin disappearing? Will anyone write a song for their mothers?" That is what the Lindsey Grahams and Kelly Ayottes of the U.S. government are asking for: the right to disappear anyone who disagrees with them.

You owe it to yourself to hear Senator Graham say "Shut Up You Don't Get a Lawyer" in his own shrill, venomous voice. You can here a snippet of his time on the Senate floor in this report at NPR's Morning Edition. Click here.

"I Am Troy Davis, and I Am Free!"

A message from Troy Davis, an innocent man who is scheduled to be put to death by the racist state of Georgia tonight. His last appeals for clemency seem to have been denied.

"To All:

I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

What a tragedy. My heart goes out to Troy Davis's family. Once again, the true nature of justice in America reveals itself.

From Soa-watch, via Kasama

UPDATE: As of 10:20 pm the execution has been temporarily stayed while it is reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

CODA: Alas, my update was just a moment too soon. After the Supreme Court refused to stay the execution, Troy Davis was murdered by the government of Georgia just after 11pm this evening. Rest in peace. Jesus wept.

Speaking of Never Forgetting

Forty years ago today New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller unleashed the full and brutal armed might of the state against the rebellious prisoners at the Attica State Prison. Hundreds were shot and injured. Dozens were killed indiscriminately by Rockefeller's storm troopers, including prison guard hostages who had been unharmed by the rebels:

William Allen, Elliott (L. D.) Barkley, John B. Barnes, Edward Cunningham (hostage), John J. D’Arcangelo (hostage), Bernard Davis, Allen Durham, Willie Fuller, Melvin D. Gray, Elmer G Hardie (hostage), Robert J. Henigan, Kenneth E. Hess, Thomas B. Hicks, Emanuel Johnson, Herbert W. Jones Jr. (hostage), Richard J Lewis (hostage), Charles Lundy, Kenneth B. Malloy, Gidell Martin, William B. McKinney, Lorenzo McNeil, Samuel Melville, Edward R. Menefee, Jose Mentijo, Milton Menyweather, John G. Monteleone, (hostage), Richard Moore, Carlos Prescott, Michael Privitiera, William E. Quinn (hostage), Raymond Rivera, James B. Robinson, Santiago Santos, Barry J. Schwartz, Harold Thomas, Carl Valone (hostage), Rafael Vasquez, Melvin Ware, Elon F. Werner (hostage), Ronald Werner (hostage), Willie West, Harrison Whalen (hostage), Alfred William

The New York Times revealed a newly-released tape recording of Rockefeller reporting to President Nixon on the success of the attack on the prisoners: “They did a fabulous job,” Rockefeller told Nixon. “It really was a beautiful operation.” You can hear how disgusting Rockefeller's gloating is on an audioclip at the NYTimes link.

As far as I'm concerned it is Rockefeller's name that should be forgotten.

(Names from the excellent downloadable resource "Attica Prison Uprising 101: A Short Primer" from Attica Is All Of Us.) The more you read about the rebellion and its causes and aftermath, the more furious you will be.

Repression: It's Not Just for Third-World Dictatorships Anymore

Citizens marked for assassination without trial. Torture. Extended detention without charges or trial. Police raids on the non-violent political opposition. Mass arrests. Government spying. Welcome to....America in the 21st century. Thank you, George Bush and Barack Obama.

Free Bradley Manning!
Check out this article on Al Jazeera English: "Bradley Manning, American Hero: Four reasons why Pfc Bradley Manning deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom, not a prison cell." (Thanks Jon for the tip). Bradley Manning is a gay soldier being held naked in solitary confinement for his alleged role in passing along classified military and diplomatic documents to Wikileaks. This winter as the harsh, torturous and degrading conditions of Manning's confinement became known, Obama said at a press conference, "“I’ve actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards,” Obama said, suggesting some of those procedures were to protect Manning’s safety. “They have assured me that they are.” Hah. The Obama administration is doubling down on all of the Bush administration's efforts to hide its activities behind legal smokescreens and to ease its surveillance of private citizens.

Some will say, "Manning broke the law." Wait, Bradley Manning broke the law exposing the lies and hypocrisies and immorality of US actions in Iraq in Afghanistan? Or was it George Bush and his cronies who broke the law? Why are those war criminals free while a conscientious citizen like Manning rots in a tiny cell? Remember how crucial the Pentagon Papers were to ending the horrible chapter of American aggression in Vietnam? Which has history judged worse — murdering millions of Vietnamese civilians or publishing some secret incriminating documents? Bradley Manning is on the right side of history, and indeed, is a real hero. Visit the Bradley Manning Support Network.

Justice for Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki is an American citizen, born in New Mexico and now living as an expatriate in Yemen. He has some truly heinous political and religious beliefs. Allegedly a propagandist for Al-Qaeda, he's implicated in a number of terrorist attacks or attempted attacks. But as an American citizen, he is entitled the rights of American citizens: if he is guilty of a crime, let him be charged, arrested and tried for those crimes. Yet last spring President Obama authorized the "targeted killing" of al-Awlaki. No trial. No charges. No rights. None. Al-Awlaki seems a likely candidate for a guilty verdict and harsh punishment should American law actually be applied to his case; indeed to my knowledge al-Awlaki hasn't protested that he is being accused inaccurately. But assassination based on empirical evidence is not the way the rule of law is supposed to work. What about the next person the government decides might be subject to "targeted killing'? What is the threshold of empirical evidence? Since when is "kill them all, let God sort it out" constitutional process? If al-Awlaki is a criminal, let justice be served, not more murder.

Free the Cuban Five!
Fighting terrorism is something the U.S. government supports, right? Wrong! Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando González are five Cuban citizens arrested in Florida in 1998 and imprisoned as spies. But what were the Cuban Five spying on? Sensitive U.S. military operations? No...they had gone undercover hoping to disrupt actual terrorist actions being planned by right-wing Cuban exiles being harbored in the United States. These terrorists had already killed numerous innocent civilians, as in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner in the Caribbean. But because the terrorists are anti-communists and have close ties to the American CIA, they have been protected again and again by American authorities. The Cuban Five were treated to harsh conditions, excessive secrecy, and ultimately severe sentences after a questionable trial. Although an international campaign has been mounted to free the Five, President Obama's solicitor general Elena Kagan (now on the Supreme Court itself) actively petitioned the Supreme Court to deny any legal review of the case, and the court acceded to that request. Visit the National Comittee to Free the Cuban Five.

Hands off Anti-War and International Solidarity Activists!
Last fall the FBI conducted raids on private homes and offices in the Midwest belonging to anti-war and left-wing political activists. Targeted in the raids and proceeding Grand Jury witch-hunt was the Freedom Road Socialist Organization as well as Arab-American Palestine Solidarity activists. The activists are accused of "material support for terrorism," seemingly because the activists expressed political support for international opposition groups labelled "terrorist organizations" by American authorities. Apparently the government can label a foreign liberation movement a "terrorist organization" and then your right to express your free speech about supporting that movement is now forfeit. These raids and the implied government subversion and infiltration of anti-war and international solidarity movements are ominous. So much for "community organizing."

No One Is Illegal!
According to the LA Times, "Deportations under Obama have reached new heights for two years running, statistics show, but Republicans said they would use their new majority in the House to press for more aggressive enforcement without any path to legal status." Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are not the cause of the economic crisis, but they are increasingly scapegoats for it. Draconian and ultimately racist laws are sweeping largely Republican-run states in the South and Southwest. Blaming "foreigners" for America's problem is a time-honored tradition.

I'm just going to say it: people should be able to live where they want to live. The majority of immigrants without legal papers in the U.S. are hard-working people just trying to live their lives. Sure there are criminals and welfare cheats among them. Just as there are rich people who try to get out of paying their taxes. There are legal problems that can be addressed, but let's face it: this country was founded largely by undocumented immigrants, and at least today's immigrants aren't going around killing Indians. "Comprehensive immigration reform" is a virtually meaningless term used by Republicans to mean keeping brown people out, and by Democrats to mean watch what they say not what they do. My neighborhood is made richer by its interwoven fabric of immigrants, and my country is too. Make the laws reflect reality.

Defund the Machineries of Repression
I don't yet have a smartphone, though I think they're sorta cool, for a telephone. I'm not a big phone gabber. And I like facebook. It's fun to keep up with friends and there's something pleasantly voyeuristic about following people's streams, even those I barely know in real life. And as is evidently clear from my writing here, I'm against people being shipped off to other countries to fight wars. Wait...non-sequitur? Two words: predator drones. Modern technology rises to meet today's challenges.

At the risk of sounding a little paranoid, is nobody else concerned about the repressive potential of today's high technology? Oh peaceful activist today, tomorrow's government might consider you a dangerous terrorist. That sleek iPhone in your pocket with its built-in GPS and your four-square log-in, hello, there's an anti-personnel drone locked right in on you right now. And the person pressing the button on you is three states away. Duck! Those contingencies are among what the defense budget, i.e., your taxes, is providing with all that cash.

And to my mind that little paranoid nightmare scenario brings up the root issue: it's not just laws, which might be just or unjust. After all, in some ways laws are just rationalizations and excuses, easily manipulated, to be rewritten or reinterpreted as needed. To return to my favorite subject, as long as "they" are controlling the laws, and the power, "we" are pretty much at "their" mercy. Simple, eh?

Timely Update: No sooner had I written the above than I read this paragraph in an article about the Israeli disruption of the "Welcome To Palestine" Flytilla campaign this week: "Aided by Facebook, Israel on Friday prevented scores of pro-Palestinian activists from boarding Tel Aviv-bound flights in Europe, questioned dozens more upon arrival at its main airport and denied entry to 69, disrupting their attempts to reach the West Bank on a solidarity mission with the Palestinians. Israel had tracked the activists on social media sites, compiled a blacklist of more than 300 names and asked airlines to keep those on the list off flights to Israel. On Friday, 310 of the activists who managed to land in Tel Aviv were detained for questioning...."